Media Monkey

· One person was even more cheerful than Michael Grade when he was appointed chairman of the BBC. No, not Mark Thompson, but the bookmaker who reported a last-minute flurry of activity backing rival candidate David Dimbleby, who looks like he'll be presenting Question Time for a good while yet. A nice result for the bookies, then. But the bets continue to flood in for the director general's post, with Thompson replacing Mark Byford as the new hot favourite. But our good friends at Ladbrokes have taken one candidate off the market after he failed to attract a single punt despite wallet-trembling odds of 10,000-1. His name? Andrew Gilligan.

· If Monkey didn't know better, we'd swear Byford had taken a few lessons in media training ahead of his appearance at Grade's unveiling on Friday. Check out that Andrew Marr-style arm waving! Unfortunately he must have been in a meeting during the "hand shaking" session, because he made such a sharp exit from the stage that he totally missed Grade's kind invitation to shake on it. "Mark, Mark!" bellowed Grade, doing a passable impression of Banzai's "shaky hands man". But hats off to Byford, who made up for it by giving his new chairman a big showbiz hug. But will they still be hugging when the full-time director general is appointed?

· Sticking with the Gradester (come on, we don't get a new BBC chairman every day, although we'll admit the churn rate is somewhat higher than it used to be), Monkey is reminded of his thoughts on reality TV, which he gave to the Royal Television Society review of the year just four months ago. "On the reality TV front, we've been treated to reruns of the Osbournes on Channel 4, Martin Bashir exposing Michael Jackson to the sunlight, Russian Roulette live on Channel 4 and to cap it all David Blaine just hanging there over the river. I can't help wondering if this is the best way we can deploy our imaginations. Is this the best that the magic box, with all its digital technology, can produce? Is this evidence of TV's stunted growth, with the accent on stunt?" Subliminal message: Fame Academy pack yer bags, your time is up.

· Grade also had this to say about the governors' (initial) stance on Gilligan, three months before the Hutton report. "I salute the governors for defend ing the independence of the BBC. This is a fact so unique in the history of the politically-appointed governors that people haven't known how to deal with it and they're criticising the governors for being too quick to support their own people. Truly, the world has gone mad. In my day [at the BBC] it was absolutely the other way round - the first whiff of an editorial in the Daily Mail and the board of management was summoned to the headmaster's study." Give that man a crystal ball.

· But hang on a minute, who was it that gave this damning report on the board of governors in his memoirs? "Classic quango fodder ... unrepresentative, undistinguished and uninspiring legatees of government patronage ... amateurs ... combining invincible power with total ignorance ... some regarded it as a matter of pride that they rarely watched any programmes." Will the real Michael Grade stand up?

· During the press conference announcing his appointment on Friday, Grade called for a glass of water. One duly appeared and the new chairman quipped to the provider: "Good career move," adding "Get that man's name." Slightly more difficult than normal, Monkey learns, for the man was a BBC press officer named Sao Bui-Van.

· It's not just a change of chairmanship. The longest-running TV cliffhanger since a certain oil tycoon was shot in Dallas has finally come to an end. BBC2 controller Jane Root is off to Discovery (coming soon: "America's favourite sharks! Stateside celebrities put the case for the Hammerhead, the Great White, and that harmless family favourite, the Basking Shark!") But what about Jane's husband Ray? Word has it the human rights lawyer is enrolling at Georgetown University, where he will take some courses in law and literature. "I feel quite tempted myself," says La Root. Especially if there's a course in Britain's favourite book. Or poem. Or sitcom ...

· It is usual for corrections and clarifications to appear on the Guardian's leader page but Monkey feels that here is the right place for this one. James Hipwell (you remember, he was sacked from the Daily Mirror's City Slickers column over allegations of insider dealing) scurrilously claimed in a so-called rival media diary that last week's My Media column had omitted his love of the Independent in favour of the Daily Telegraph. Not true. As James will recall, he did indeed tell our interviewer that he took the Daily Telegraph, only to change his mind to the Independent at the last minute. Why? "Just remembered - I read the Independent every day and really like what Simon Kelner is doing with the tabloid edition. Can you take out the Telegraph if there's not enough room? Quite important as my girlfriend works there and I'll get bashed if the Indy isn't mentioned. Cheers." Only too glad to be of assistance.